A Beginner’s Guide to the Scream Franchise

The Fantasy Review’s beginner’s guide to the Scream Franchise.

Overview

The Scream franchise is one of the best horror franchises, and perfect for beginners to the genre and experienced horror lovers alike.

A masked killer (Ghostface) targets Sidney and her friends by using scary movies as part of a game. These movies are satirical of the very genre they celebrate, and the original trilogy comes from the icredible mind of Wes Craven who created A Nightmare on Elm Street, so he knows what he’s doing!

Which Movies to Watch First

So, I think you have two options:

Start at the Beginning

Beginner’s Guide to the Scream Franchise

Scream (1996) is an incredible movie and the obvious starting point. This is where all the in-jokes and references begin, plus a lot of future movies have character and plot developments based on key moments in the original trilogy.

That being said…

Watch Scream 4 (2011)

This was the first Scream movie I watched, and I loved my introduction into the franchise! It’s kind of a reboot, kind of a sequel, and makes fun of itself a lot. Scream 4 is a very easy watch, and won’t ruin the watching experience of the original trilogy.

Some people might be wondering why I haven’t recommended starting with Scream (2022), which is the fifth movie in the series, released ten years after the fourth, and is a proper reboot/sequel, with new main characters alongside the legacy ones.

I think you can start at the 2022 movie, if you want to catch up quickly for the latest release, but if that’s far in the future, take some time and start a little earlier as I think you’ll appreciate those sequels more if you do.